So many advice columns, tips and books focus on what you should talk about on your corporate blog, but few ever go into things that you should not talk about. While it is important to focus on the positive, you also need to be aware of some common mistakes that can derail your efforts. With the right approach, and saying the right things, your corporate blog can be successful. However, it only takes one bad post to sink all the work that you have done.

Let’s go over a few things that have no place on corporate blogs:

1. Company Rivalries –

If company X has stolen your customers/clients/ideas, your blog is not the place to air that dirty laundry. Company rivalries may be interesting, but at the end of the day, the participants just end up looking foolish, or downright nasty. It is best to take the high road when you are in the midst of a problem like this and keep the dirty laundry where it belongs. Your corporate blog should always present the best possible public face to the world, and that face should not look petty.

2. Bad News –

While there are some instances where full disclosure on a blog can benefit a company when there is bad news, if you are not versed in the art of communicating bad news and putting a good spin on it, it does not belong on your blog. Once again, we come to the public face of your company. Your blog is the place for positive news, not for “the sky is falling and we are all going to be homeless.” Keep the bad news out of your blog, unless there is absolutely no way that you can avoid addressing a problem.

3. Inappropriate Humor/Graphics/Videos/Sound Files –

Viral videos have exploded on to the scene and although many are truly funny and you may want to share them, they have no place on a corporate blog. Bottom line – if you wouldn’t tell a joke, show a video or graphic to your 98 year old grandmother, it doesn’t belong on your blog. You may think it’s funny, 99% of your readers may agree, but it’s that 1% that can tank your company. Always keep it clean, and avoid running the risk of tarnishing your company’s image through inappropriate content.

One thing that corporate bloggers need to be aware of before they write one word is that in the blogosphere, a post is forever. It’s not just about weathering the storm that a bad post can cause for a week. Thanks to search engines, caching, linking and copying, a bad blog post will live forever.

Before you write anything, think for a minute if you will be proud of that post in a month, a year, five years. Chances are, that’s how long that post will be around. If the answer is no, write something else. Always take the high road and your company will benefit.

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Originally posted 2008-10-22 05:29:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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It is basically what allows your blog to notify other blogs that they have been mentioned elsewhere on the internet. Track backs most commonly appear as blog comments, creating another link back to your blog in other blogs on the internet. Not only will this create new links to your blog from elsewhere on the internet, but it will also attract those bloggers that you have mentioned to come and check your blog out as well.

6 – Encourage people to comment in your own blog.

One of the most powerful ways that you can convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show them that other loyal readers are already following your blog as well as participating in it. If new readers see that other people are commenting in your blog, then they will infer from it that your content is worthwhile. Make sure to respond to comments that are placed in your blog as well to show your readers that you are willing to keep the conversation alive.

7 – Submit your latest pillar article to another blog that is summarizing a collection of articles from numerous sources that fit in to the same subject.

The idea here is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week in a specific place. Most “blog carnivals” as these are often called will link back to each of the participants, creating new links for your blog and giving you an increased chance of exposure online.

8 – Submit your blog to sites like http://www.blogtopsites.com and other similar sites.

This may not necessarily bring about a flood of brand new readers, but it is quick and easy to do so it is well worth the effort no matter what comes of it. Find the appropriate category that your blog fits into and submit it. You should attract between one and ten brand new readers every day, and this can significantly build up over a period of time.

9 – Another excellent way to benefit is through your resource box, which is essentially like a signature file for the content that you write.

You can post articles and blog entries online and create a link back to your blog in the process. Then, any time one of your content pieces is published, your resource box will create new incoming links to your blog, and will attract new traffic as well. If you can get newsletters to publish your content, you will benefit even more.

10 – Write more pillar articles as time goes by.

Everything above will help you to attract new blog readers, but one of the most important techniques is to put strong pillar articles in place. Without your pillar articles, you may be able to bring new readers in but you will have difficulty keeping them. Your solidly written pillar articles will help you create not only a database of useful content, but also a great amount of loyal readers as well.

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Originally posted 2009-02-06 05:10:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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